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A derelict school turned into a gorgeous home with 'an interior of harmony and visual éclat'
Capel House in Badminton, Gloucestershire — the home of Gerald Harford and Jane MacEwen — is a fine 18th-century estate building with a remarkable history has been converted into a stylish home, as John Martin Robinson discovers. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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What have the Romans ever done for us? They made the Cotswolds Britain's beating heart
The confident and aggressive Romans brought savagery, great taste and efficiency to the Cotswolds, crowning Cirencester Britain’s second city
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The proposed National Gallery extension is a ray of light in a stormy sector
The announcement of a new wing for one of the nation's top art galleries 'is a transformative initiative undertaken through private philanthropy to clear and universal benefit. What is there not to celebrate?'
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Marble Hill: The house built for a secret lover of the Prince of Wales, with a little help from one of Britain's greatest ever poets
A major programme of restoration at Marble Hill has transformed both the house and grounds. Jeremy Musson admires what has been achieved by English Heritage at this outstanding property in Richmond-upon-Thames. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Country Life Quiz of the Day, September 16, 2025 gets Brutal(ist)
Divisive architecture is among the themes of today's quiz questions.
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Sold, singed and sunk: The sorry tale of Normanton Hall
Few English country houses suffered more than Normanton Hall.
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'It is so full of turrets and lofty buildings, spires and towers, it looks not like a town but a city': The glamour of Glamis Castle, from Macbeth to the Queen Mother
John Goodall looks at the eventful later history of Glamis Castle, one of the most celebrated of Scottish castles, and its association with Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother.
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Affordable, sustainable, rural: How a group of volunteers embarrassed the government and built some of the best new homes in the country
Hazelmead has won almost every RIBA award going. The development on the outskirts of Bridport might be a springboard for a rural housing revolution, much like the Arts-and-Crafts movement more than a century ago.
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Inside the remarkable restoration of King George III's observatory
Commissioned by George III, the observatory has a long and fascinating history as a seat of scientific endeavour. It has now been restored as a home, as William Aslet reports.
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‘Its loss became a cautionary tale, and a rallying cry for architectural conservation’: The rise and fall and renewed interest in Ireland’s remarkable country houses
Lesley Bond traces a brief history of Ireland’s country houses and questions whether you can ever separate the house from the history it represents.
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Allerton Castle: The great country house that blends Hampton Court, Highclere and the Palace of Westminster
A disastrous fire in 2005 prompted the rebirth of Allerton Castle, North Yorkshire, an outstanding Victorian house with a deep and remarkable history. Photographs by Paul Highnam.
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In our built heritage, is the truth stranger than fiction?
Athena considers how our historic buildings are presented in an age of film and television.
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Art Deco: The striking design style that embraced it all
Art Deco, with its exuberant passion for geometry, luxury and shiny chrome, cocooned troubled times in a layer of glitz. A century after the style gained its name, Gavin Plumley surveys one of the 20th century’s most all-encompassing movements.
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Nuthall Temple: The Palladian masterpiece that was blown up to make way for the M1
Every Monday, Melanie Bryan, delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
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Everingham Park: The revival of a lost vision of Georgian glory
Built between 1758 and 1764, Everingham Park, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, was brilliantly reinvented in the 1960s. It also possesses an opulent chapel, a triumphalist product of Catholic Emancipation. John Goodall reports on this Georgian house, home of Philip and Helen Guest. Photography by Paul Highnam for the Country Life Picture Library.
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Sir Denys Lasdun: The brains behind the building branded 'a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London’ by The King
John Betjeman admired Sir Denys Lasdun’s work, but The King disliked it, and opinion remains divided to this day. Either way, the man who viewed ‘buildings as landscape’ has left an indelible mark on London.
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Thomas Cook: The travel agent who changed the world, and the house his descendants live in to this day
Sennowe Park in Norfolk is the home of Charles and Virginia Temple-Richards, the descendants of trailblazing travel agent Thomas Cook. Oliver Gerrish looks at the travel business that funded and informed the renovation of this extraordinary Edwardian country house.
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One of 'the most magnificent and perfectly preserved of Britain’s great Edwardian country houses', built for the heir to Thomas Cook's vast fortune
John Goodall looks at the creation of Sennowe Park in Norfolk — home of Charles and Virginia Temple-Richards — and charts its transformation at the hands of a local architect from a Georgian lodge to a luxurious Edwardian home.
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Opinion: If we want to keep our architectural heritage, why do we tax those who repair it?
It beggars belief that the state lists buildings in order to protect them — and then doesn’t contribute to their upkeep, says Country Life columnist Agromenes.
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The country home with an intriguing connection to the Titanic, doomed for demolition
Every Monday, Melanie Bryan, delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
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'Step through the front door and your expectations evaporate in amazement and delight': The humble end-of-terrace house that's a wonder of neo-Classical grandeur
An unassuming house in Swansea reveals a marvellous and unexpected secret. John Goodall enjoys a rich collection of neo-Classical decorative plasterwork lovingly created by Royston Jones and Fiona Gray.
